Zenimax Online Studios, known for The Elder Scrolls Online, has lost its ambitious project under the code name BlackBird. An online player with MMO elements inspired by Destiny and Blade Runner was canceled by Microsoft despite enthusiastic reviews from the Xbox leadership.
In March 2025, the Zenimax team introduced the BlackBird demonstration to the Xbox management, including Phil Spencer. According to data Bloombergthe presentation was so impressed by Spencer that the head of the Xbox Game Studios Matt Buti literally took the controller from him to continue the meeting. However, already on July 3, 2025, on the day of large -scale dismissals in the Microsoft Gaming unit, the project was “postponed for an indefinite period” – which actually means its cancellation.
BlackBird was supposed to become a new online player from a third person in the original universe. The game was offered by a futuristic noir style, a vertical gameplay with dable jumps, a jerk, a hook and a scramble on the walls. The development began back in 2018, and then the project bore the code name Kestrel, but later the team decided to use this name as the final, and in recent years the project was known as BlackBird.
At the early stage of development, there were many problems: from technical difficulties to lack of resources due to the priority support of The Elder Scrolls Online. However, the team grew to 300 people, which allowed to activate work on the game, to release BlackBird in 2028.
According to unofficial information, Xbox considered the project too risky: a new franchise, expensive development, a bet on the game-service model in conditions when many such projects fail. The abolition of the game was a serious blow for the studio – part of the leadership, including the industry veteran and director of Zenimax Online Studios, Matt Firora, resigned immediately after the project was closed.
